The Truth will Set you Free: Cowboy Up in Jesus' Name

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Cowboy Up in Jesus' Name

By Kevin Michael Cawley @ http://cawley.typepad.com/blog/2006/12/cowboy_up_in_je.html

rednecks ...For every man that has longed to sing praise songs about testosterone and to get in touch with their evangelical alpha-male...enter GodMen: Promise Keepers Meets Ultimate Fighting. Watch their promo video here.

For a long time, I have been reluctant to comment on the reclaim the masculinity of the church movement associated with books like David Murrow's, Why Men Hate Going to Church and the website connected with it-- Church For Men-- primarily because I have been embarrassed by it.

In brief, the movement seems to be based on some sort of macho redneck conception of masculinity and offers a humiliating technique-driven response to the perceived problems. Ironically, I think that this type of movement is precisely the reason that men don't want to have anything to do with the church.

Beyond that, I'm going to continue to bite my tongue-- except to direct your attention to Al Mohler's recent commentary on GodMen:

Confusion About Christian Manhood (Al Mohler)

Christian manhood is not about beating chests and celebrating testosterone -- it is about showing up and doing what real Christian men do. Real manhood is demonstrated in the fulfillment of a man's assigned roles as husband, father, leader, servant, teacher, protector, and provider. Real manhood is in doing what men do, not endless talk about how great it is to be a man. Real Christian manhood is evident in taking up leadership in the home and in the church, not in crude and facile talk about Jesus using profanity when he called Herod "that fox."

In other words, real Christian men are those who have grown up to be men, not those who embarrass the church and confuse the Gospel with displays of adolescent misbehavior. Let's hope this movement grows up before it blows up.